UNESCO has announced the agenda for the next session of its committee for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, which will meet in Xiamen, China, from 30 November to 5 December 2026. The committee will examine 64 nominations submitted by 82 countries, covering practices from oral traditions and performing arts to rituals, festive events and traditional craftsmanship.

Eighteen of the nominations are joint submissions by several countries, twice as many as last year, a sign of growing cooperation around heritage that crosses borders. The session could also bring first inscriptions for four African countries, Eswatini, Lesotho, South Sudan and Tanzania, alongside a nomination from a small island developing state. A first inscription can raise international attention for a country's living traditions and encourage documentation and education, though it does not by itself guarantee funding or protection.

Intangible heritage differs from the monuments and sites more commonly associated with UNESCO. It covers the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities themselves recognise as their inheritance, maintained through participation and teaching rather than through buildings or collections. The committee assesses each nomination against established criteria, and its decisions cannot be anticipated in advance.

The Xiamen session is the twenty-first meeting of the intergovernmental committee, and it arrives at a moment when living traditions face pressure from urbanisation, migration and the loss of practitioners. For the communities behind the nominations, inscription would offer recognition on a world stage, but the work of keeping a tradition alive remains theirs, carried out by families, performers and teachers long after the committee has moved on.